International evolution of legislation and guidelines in medically assisted reproduction.

The most noticeable characteristic of the legal situation in Europe regarding medically assisted reproduction is the enormous variety of rules. It is hard to find two countries with the same rules regarding a topic like embryo research or donor insemination. Moreover, there has been a rapid evolution of the law and regulation of medically assisted reproduction in the last 15 years. This legal mosaicism is threatened by increasing pressure from politicians and international societies. Three topics are discussed in this article: (i) the relationship between ethics and politics, and the impact on national legislation; (ii) the evaluation of international legal harmonization; and (iii) alternative solutions to some of the problems. It is concluded that consensus and harmonization only has moral value when it is brought about by discussion and persuasion, not by force.